National POW Museum honors USS Pueblo crew

ANDERSONVILLE, Ga. - When North Korea ambushed the USS Pueblo in 1968, killing one crew member and taking the remaining 82 captive, the ship's commander thought they would be released in a few days.

"After a week went by, I figured we'd either be rescued or die there " retired Navy Cmdr. Lloyd M. "Pete" Bucher said.

But no one came, leaving the men to fend for themselves for 11 months.

On Wednesday, more than 33 years after they were captured and 12 years after they were finally recognized as prisoners of war, 11 former crew members of the Pueblo attended the unveiling of a plaque in their honor at the National Prisoner of War Museum.

"This is the culmination of a great effort to properly recognize these American heroes," said Bucher, now 73, of Poway, Calif.

Once captured, the crew endured torture, public humiliation and efforts by the North Koreans to use them for propaganda. The Navy considered a court-martial for Bucher for letting the Pueblo fall into enemy hands without firing a shot and for failing to destroy much of the ship's classified material. He was never brought to trial.